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Since the last twenty years many suicide prevention programs have been developed. One of these programs relies on peer helping. It consists in training young people whose role is to support students experiencing difficulties. However, to our knowledge, no study has had the specific concern of understanding the assistance brought by a peer helper to a suicidal teenager. This is why the purpose of our study is to understand and interpret the process followed by peer helpers as they assist a suicidal adolescent.
We interviewed five young adults who used to be peer helpers one to three years prior to the interview. Because of its relevance for this type of study, the selected methodological approach was Grounded Theory.
The proposal that emerged from the data analysis is that the peer helpers’ experience with a suicidal teenager is, simultaneously, a stimulating, confronting and enriching heroic mission. We identified three stages to illustrate the globality of this experience described as a mission that invites the peer helper to take a hero role.
The first stage begins with the access to the peer helper status. After having contact with a suicidal schoolmate, the peer helper gets heavily involved in the mission of saving him. At this moment, the peer helper is blazing in its hero role.
The second stage includes all that surrounds the mission itself. Therefore the facts surrounding the mission will then be considered. The support begins as a fight to save the suicidal schoolmate. The blazing enthusiasm of the beginning moderates in the ambivalence of the fight, which represents the concrete assistance. It is the period of a certain disillusion.
The last stage starts after the support provided by the peer helper is over. He then evaluates the mission’s victories and defeats. It is the moment of wisdom.
Through the analysis, some data caused reflection and questioning. Thus we undertook a second review of the literature related to the process of helping a suicidal teenager as a peer helper. At the end of this study, we believe that the peer helpers program has positive repercussions for the implied teenagers, when training is relevant and support is present.